


Meetings and Infatuations

by kallianeira



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-04 07:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17894198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kallianeira/pseuds/kallianeira
Summary: While visiting Jane Austen, the Doctor and Rose uncover a mystery.Due to spoilery reasons, more tags will be added as the story progresses.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I've been wanting to write for a little while now, and I hope you like it!
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

They were snuggled together on the couch in the media room, Rose desperately trying to ignore the Doctor’s voice as he told her all about the brilliant Jane Austen. Had she known about his infatuation with the famous writer, she never would have chosen to watch Pride and Prejudice with him in the room. But it was her favourite adaptation of her favourite book, and when the Doctor had insisted it was his favourite too, she hadn’t been able to turn him away.

Well. Now she regretted it.

What was bothering her wasn’t really that she couldn’t understand a word of what was said because he couldn’t stop talking. That didn’t matter - she knew every line by heart by now anyway.

No, what really frustrated her was how the Doctor spoke of Jane. Another historical figure she couldn’t keep up with. No wonder he never seemed to notice her in that way at all - in comparison to all those magnificent women (and possibly men) out there in all of time and space, what was she really?

“Oh, you should have seen her, Rose, in that light blue dress - she was the most beautiful woman in the room,” she heard him say, and she inwardly groaned, cursing the jealousy that suddenly flared up in full force. “Dancing with that beaming smile on her face - those actors of your little movie here make it look so boring, but she, oh she really knew how to -“

He finally seemed to notice the frown on her face, and he studied her for a few seconds before he suddenly jumped up and exclaimed, “You know what, Rose Tyler? You look like you need a little cheering up. How about I introduce you to her? A little chatting, a little dancing?” He waggled his eyebrows.

Rose put on a smile - how could she say no to meeting her favourite author? But knowing what exactly would expect her there - him excessively flirting, her pretending not to notice - she couldn’t quite make that smile as genuine as it should be.

She let him take her hand and tried to keep up when he started running through the corridors towards the console room, where she let go of his hand so he could start putting in coordinates. She slowly made her way over to the railing so she’d have something to hold on to when the TARDIS would eventually take flight, and watched him sadly. She shouldn’t have let herself fall for him so deeply. And yet, being his friend and seeing the universe was definitely worth getting her heart broken for.

He looked up from what he was doing, frowning a little when he saw her standing there. “What are you doing there dressed like that? Can’t have you going to a dance without the appropriate ballgown.” He gave her a brilliant grin and winked. Did he have to be so flirty when she was trying so hard to ignore her stupid feelings? “Off with you to the wardrobe room, I’m sure the TARDIS will help you pick out something.” He turned back to the console.

“Wasn’t like I had time to change on the way here what with you dragging me with you like an over-excited puppy,” she mumbled under her breath, not really caring if he heard or not.

A few minutes later, she came back to the console room to find him staring at the entrance to the corridors deep in thought. It appeared as if he’d been like that for several minutes, as if he’d been staring after her, and only when she waved at him did he break out of his daze with a shake of his head.

When he still didn’t say anything and just watched her quietly, she self-consciously looked down at the dress she was wearing. “D’you think I’ll fit in in this then?” The dark burgundy dress had been the one that stood out the most among all the crème coloured dresses on the rack when she’d entered the wardrobe room, and she just knew it had been the TARDIS helping her. She wasn’t sure about the dark colour, but she trusted the ship to choose the right dress. She’d never failed her before.

It took him a beat to answer, so she lifted her eyes to see him staring at the dress. “Yeah, um, yes, I... Jane will be very impressed by your impeccable fashion sense, I should say,” he stammered out, and Rose could see his Adam’s apple bop up and down a few times before he caught himself and turned around to purposefully stride towards the door.

“Right...” She followed him, shaking off her slight confusion and finally getting excited about what she’d find behind those doors.

“Rose Tyler, may I present to you,” he held out his arm to her in true Regency fashion and pulled open the door, “Bath in the year 1802!”

Now beaming up at him in anticipation, she let him guide her out of the TARDIS and didn’t notice her surroundings until she felt grass tickle her ankles and she realised that they were standing in the middle of a wide meadow.

“Sure this is Bath? Looked different in the movies,” she said, looking around, a bit disappointed.

“Well... I guess she must be visiting someone at the moment... I locked onto her biological signature, so she can’t be too far.”

Rose gaped at him and could only just so refrain herself from asking him how exactly he got Jane Austen’s biological signature. She didn’t want to know.

She watched as his frown cleared. “Look. There, behind the trees. There are some lights. Looks like a pretty big house or even a manor.” He squinted at the tree line, then looked down at her. “Might as well check that out.”

They made their way through the grass and soon found themselves on a path leading to a grand mansion. From time to time, a carriage would overtake them and pull up to the main entrance where people in Regency dress got out and walked up the stairs, disappearing inside. There was faint music playing from inside the house.

Rose stopped in awe and let go of the Doctor’s arm. She’d travelled in time before, of course, but she’d seen this in the movies and imagined going to a dance like this so many times. It was all a bit surreal.

“Come on.” The Doctor looked back to where Rose was standing with an awestruck face, beckoning her with a nod of his head in the mansion’s direction, his hands in his coat pockets.

When they were only a few metres away from the entrance, the Doctor offered her his hand again, just like she’d seen men do in movies adapted from Jane Austen’s work.

The foyer was bustling with people. To the right, Rose could see several couples lined up for a dance, all of them smiling broadly at their dance partners while clapping and spinning around to the music Rose had heard when they were approaching the house.

This time it was Rose pulling the Doctor with her. The excitement gripped her and a big smile spread over her face as she started to make her way through the crowd towards the dancing people, but she was stopped by the Doctor before she could get very far.

“What, still don’t like dancing?” she asked, her tongue between her teeth.

“We shouldn’t barge in like that. And would you even know how to dance?”

“Well… I’ve seen the movies. How hard can it be?” She started towards the dancing couples again, but again the Doctor pulled her back.

“Let’s find Jane first,” he told her with an excited grin, and that made Rose remember his infatuation with the author again. She deflated immediately, loosening her grip on his hand.

“We could still dance the next one,” the Doctor assured her, having noticed her sudden change of emotion.

“Yeah… but you’re right. We should go find Jane.” She took one more longing look at the dancing couples. Something wasn’t quite right. But before she could pinpoint exactly what was out of place about the scene she was watching, she was distracted by the Doctor taking her hand and placing it in the crook of his arm again.

“Now,” he said, straightening up so he could see over the mass of people. “We should walk around a bit, take a turn about the room as they say -” Rose snorted at his reference to the movie they’d seen before, “- see if she might sit around somewhere. She’s not dancing, and I can’t see her standing anywhere…”

“Have you met her often, then?” Rose wondered how well they knew each other, and if she really would be the third wheel this evening.

He looked down at her for a moment, opening his mouth to answer, but just then a tall, brunette woman entered the room, looking sad but brightening up a bit when her searching eyes landed on some people across the room.

The Doctor had noticed Rose looking in her direction and spotted her too. “There she is! Look at her! See how she’s brightening up the room with the joy of seeing her family -”

He babbled on, but Rose was determined not to listen anymore, and instead dragged him towards his brilliant Jane so they could get it over with.

When they drew closer to the Austens, Rose was able to overhear the conversation and stopped so they wouldn’t notice her eavesdropping.

“Mr. Bigg-Wither has just made me an offer of marriage, and I accepted,” Jane informed her family, though she didn’t look as happy as Rose would have expected a romantic person like Jane Austen to be after accepting a proposal.

Rose was also a bit confused. “That can’t be right - Jane Austen never married…” She turned towards the Doctor who didn’t seem too surprised.

“Well, she never married. But she did get one proposal, which she first accepted, but broke off the next day - hey! We could find out why she did that!” He grinned at her with raised eyebrows.

Rose had to practically force the smile on her face when she answered with a short “sure”. She could guess what would make Jane Austen change her mind so quickly - or rather, who.

Suddenly she wasn’t as excited about meeting her favourite author anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Rose was just about to excuse herself to go explore on her own for a bit when she saw the woman standing next to Jane (her sister, Rose assumed) look in their direction. Her eyes brightened up, and she leaned towards Jane to whisper something in her ear. The author turned around, her face lit up with a smile.

“Clara!” she exclaimed, and Rose and the Doctor watched as she rushed past them towards a petite brunette in a midnight blue dress who eagerly embraced Jane when she reached her.

“Oh, how glad I am to see you here. I have something important to tell you!” Jane held the young woman by her arms, then took her hand to pull her with her towards the hallway.

The Doctor looked over to them with a frown. “She looks a bit familiar…”

“Well, looks like she’s one of Jane’s friends, you must’ve seen her on one of your other visits,” Rose answered, but something in his eyes told her that couldn’t have been it.

“No, pretty sure I’ve seen her somewhere else…”

When the two women passed by, Jane’s friend looked up at the Doctor for a moment, and Rose thought she saw her eyes widen in recognition as well, but the woman - had Jane called her Clara? - looked away almost immediately and tried to keep up with Jane instead.

“Come on, let’s follow them,” the Doctor said, and guided Rose through the crowd in the same direction as the women were going.

Jane seemed to know her way around the house, and soon they were walking up the stairs, Rose and the Doctor waiting in the shadows before following them up, then letting the sound of conversation guide them to a nearly closed door.

“… and I couldn’t have rejected his proposal. You know of my family’s status, you know I have to marry soon and secure a comfortable living for myself. I am twenty-seven, I have been a burden to my family long enough,” they heard Jane say, and apparently her happy façade had fallen in the private company of her friend.

“Jane, let me tell you that you don’t need a man to make your family happy. Sure, you need money, but don’t ever think they wouldn’t love you if you didn’t marry. Besides, you of all people should know you shouldn’t marry for the money. Just look at your books, -” Rose felt the Doctor tense a bit beside her, “- they show that you know one should marry for love, and I can see you don’t love him.”

“I… I fear I can never marry,” Jane shared quietly, her head bowed. Through the small crack in the door, Rose could just about make out the two women sitting on a bed, turned towards each other, their backs to the door and their hands clasped in their laps. Jane hesitated. “I do not think it possible for me to feel enough for a man to marry him,” she quietly admitted.

Clara shifted even closer to her, reaching her hand out to softly touch Jane’s.

Jane now looked up into Clara’s eyes. “You keep appearing out of nowhere. I never know when to look out for you at a ball, and yet I always do. I can not write you any letters, for you claim to have no address. You speak in ways I have never heard anyone speak. I know there has to be a story behind it all… but you never tell. And yet… I look forward to every dance hoping to spot you in the party, and… my heart… oh, you must think me so foolish, but… I think the reason why I will never be able to willingly settle with a man is that I have fallen for y-”

Jane was suddenly interrupted by Clara leaning forward and capturing her lips with her own.

Rose’s hand tightened around the Doctor’s. Deep down in her brain she knew she should give these two some privacy, but she was just a bit shocked. She never would have guessed! Jane Austen, in love with a woman, kissing a woman! And what she had said about Clara made her think. The way she talked was different from the way Rose had heard other people from this time talk, in fact, she sounded a bit like someone Rose would meet in her own time. Add to that the fact that she was openly kissing a woman - wait. She wasn’t openly kissing Jane. That made Rose break out of her daze, and she pulled the Doctor, who looked equally as shellshocked as she had felt a few moments ago, away from the door, further down the corridor.

Well. No wonder the Doctor was shocked. Jane had just said she’d never feel that way about a man, and the Doctor had obviously thought she’d felt something for him. Rose had to push down the jealous thoughts for a moment. He needed her now.

Only when they were a good few metres away from the room did she dare talk in a hushed voice. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”

“What?” he whispered back, eyebrows drawn together in confusion, taking in her concerned eyes. Then his eyes widened slightly, and he seemed to realise what she meant. “Oh. I… I actually knew that already. What I can’t believe is that I actually let her go that far. Where am I anyway? I should have sensed it the moment we got here, but somehow I can’t…”

Now it was Rose that looked at him in confusion. “Hang on a minute - you  _let_ her go that far? And what do you mean, you knew? I thought… never mind - what the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, you heard her - that woman has read Jane’s books, and at this point they haven’t been published yet, -”

“So? Maybe she read them while she was visiting.”

“Maybe, yeah, but Jane was very private about her books after one of them was rejected by a publisher, only really showed them to her sister Cassandra, sometimes her family but that was it… and there are so many other things that don’t add up. Jane was right, no one talks like that in 1802. She recognised me, and I could have sworn I’ve seen her before, but definitely not in the early nineteenth century. Now, she could be a Time Agent, but I just don’t see that in her. Which only really leaves one option…” Rose wasn’t sure she was following him. “But I should have sensed him! He must be around here somewhere, maybe hiding behind some kind of perception filter… so where is he?”

“Where’s who?”

“Well, where am I? She’s obviously a companion of mine, though I’m not sure if she’s from my future or from my past…”

Rose was lost. He was changing topics so fast, her mind was spinning. While she usually understood most of his wibbly wobbly timey whimey talk, she couldn’t quite wrap her head around this particular piece of information. “What, you don’t know whether she’s from your past? Why wouldn’t you? If you don’t know who she is, then how could she be from your past?” Her brow was wrinkled in confusion.

“Well,” the Doctor answered vaguely, “there was a time shortly before the Time War where I had some serious memory problems. And she seemed familiar the moment I saw her. But then again… she seemed to recognise me too when she walked past us earlier, so she must know this body.”

“But in the future, yeah?” Rose asked, hoping she had kept up long enough to understand everything. “‘Cause I don’t remember meeting her, and I’ve been with you the whole time since you regenerated… right?” Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Why did the Doctor recognise that woman if she was really from his future? Had he left her and gone on adventures alone when she was visiting her mother? Was he just lying about knowing her because he felt guilty now for leaving her behind for those adventures?

But he looked just as confused as she felt.

“Yeah…” His eyes wandered back to the room where the two women were now quietly talking to each other again. “It all seems quite impossible… Although, if she’s really with a future version of me, and we somehow met before, I would have had to lock our memories of that event away to prevent the paradox of us knowing our future. The memory of her shouldn’t resurface though…”

Rose decided to leave solving this mind bugging problem to the Doctor. She knew she wouldn’t be able to think straight until she knew what this was all about, so it was no use risking a headache trying to find out what was going on if the Doctor would figure it out anyway. She just hoped they wouldn’t meet the reapers again if Clara really was from his future and meeting her now would create a big paradox.

But the Doctor didn’t seem too concerned about that. His face lit up as if he had just had the best idea he’d ever come up with. “Let’s solve this mystery!” He took her hand again and led her back to the room, pausing a few steps away from the door. “We haven’t even met the person we came here for yet.” He grinned at her, all sparkling eyes and white teeth, then winked.

They were close enough to understand the quiet conversation inside the room again. “Jane, what you’re feeling isn’t wrong. Where I come from, it’s nearly as normal as a woman loving a man.” Rose and the Doctor exchanged a glance. “I can’t say that I feel as deeply as you do, but believe me, I fancy you - a lot,” Clara assured Jane, sounding very excited. Rose wasn’t sure if it really was such a good idea to interrupt them now.

The Doctor lifted his hand to knock on the door, and Rose was grateful that he didn’t just barge in this time.

After the knock, they could hear some shuffling inside the room, then footsteps - one of them, probably Jane, Rose thought, must have stood up and walked to a different side of the room, trying to make it look as though they hadn’t been sitting so closely together on the bed. “Come in,” Jane said, her voice questioning.

Upon entering the room, Rose noticed Clara eyeing her curiously. Did this mean she didn’t know Rose? How far from the Doctor’s future could she be then? From after Rose had died? Would she really die before he could regenerate into a different body? How long did one of his bodies last? It hadn’t lasted very long the last time… Would she really die so soon?

Jane’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Can I help you?” She didn’t seem to recognise the Doctor.

So Jane didn’t know this body. That meant that Clara had to be here with a different regeneration.

“I was wondering if I could borrow your little friend for a minute,” the Doctor said, nodding to Clara who was still sitting on the bed.

Rose whipped her head back to him. “Hang on a second, what happened to introducing me to Ja-, I mean Miss Austen?”

“Jane Austen, this is Rose Tyler, Rose, this is Jane Austen,” the Doctor said distractedly, still looking at Clara, who had stood up and was now making her way around the bed to a very confused looking Jane.

“It’s all right, I’ll be right back,” Clara said to Jane, taking her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze before walking past where Rose and the Doctor still stood in the doorway.

They left Jane alone in the room and followed Clara a few paces down the corridor and into a different room. Once they were all inside and the door was closed, the Doctor turned towards Clara, arms crossed and eyebrows raised, and waited for her to explain herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! This isn't just a Ten and Rose story! Let me know what you think about this chapter!


End file.
